Criminal record checks that actually clear Korean immigration: which one to order and when it expires
Korea's immigration office rejects FBI checks older than six months and police certificates without apostilles, even when your recruiter said they were fine. Order the right document now, or reorder it later from overseas at triple the cost and six weeks lost.
Park English · 2026-08-28 · 4 min read
The criminal record check is the one document that expires while you are collecting the others, and the rejection rate on it is higher than for any other E-2 paper. We have watched teachers reorder checks from Korea because they ordered a state-level report when immigration wanted federal, or because the apostille was missing, or because seven months passed between the fingerprint appointment and the visa interview.
Which criminal record check Korea actually wants
If you hold a U.S. passport, immigration wants an FBI Identity History Summary Check with a channeler apostille or a Department of State apostille. Not a state police check, even if you have only ever lived in one state. The州-level certificate is sometimes accepted, but "sometimes" is not good enough when reordering from Seoul costs $400 and five weeks.
Canadian teachers need an RCMP certified criminal record check with the ECAS apostille equivalent. The local police check is not sufficient.
UK teachers need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate and must apostille it through the FCO legalisation office. The basic DBS is enough; you do not need the enhanced version.
Australian teachers need a National Police Certificate with a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) apostille. State checks do not count.
For all other E-2 nationalities, the rule is the same: the national-level criminal record, not regional, and it must carry an apostille.
The six-month expiration nobody warns you about
Korean immigration considers a criminal record check valid for six months from the issue date printed on the document. Not six months from when you apply for the visa. Not six months from when you arrive. Six months from the date the issuing authority signed it.
That means if you order it too early, it expires before you finish the rest of the process. If you order it too late, you are waiting on it while a school's start date slides past.
The safe sequence:
- Request your criminal record check first, the week you begin collecting documents. Most issuing bodies take 2-4 weeks; some take eight.
- Apostille it as soon as it arrives. The apostille does not reset the clock — the six-month countdown starts from the original issue date.
- Have your degree and any other documents apostilled in parallel. The degree does not expire.
- Submit everything together when the job offer is firm.
If you are switching jobs in Korea and your check is older than six months, you will have to order a new one and have it apostilled and mailed to you. Budget ₩500,000 and six weeks.
Apostille the criminal check in your home country
You can apostille a document in Korea, but only if Korea issued it. A U.S. criminal record check must be apostilled in the U.S., at the state level if you used a channeler, or through the Department of State if you went direct to the FBI.
Some recruiters will say you can skip the apostille and have the school handle it. That recruiter is wrong, or the school will handle it by rejecting your application. The apostille is not optional.
What gets rejected and why
| Reason for rejection | How often we see it | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| State-level check instead of federal (U.S.) | Monthly | Reorder the FBI check |
| No apostille | Monthly | Apostille the document you have, if it is recent enough; otherwise reorder |
| Issue date older than six months | Weekly | Reorder from your home country |
| Name on check does not match passport exactly | Every few months | Reorder with exact passport name, middle name included or omitted to match |
| Photocopy instead of original | Rarely, but it happens | Request a new original certificate |
Immigration officers do not accept explanations. The document matches their list or it does not.
If you are already in Korea on a different visa
F-visa holders (F-2, F-4, F-5, F-6) are exempt from the E-2 document requirements when applying for hagwon jobs, including the criminal record check. But if you are switching from a D-visa or entering on a tourist waiver intending to convert to E-2, you need the full set, apostilled, even if you are standing in Korea when you apply.
The criminal record check is the one document you cannot rush at the last minute and the one that expires while you wait. Order it first, apostille it immediately, and if someone tells you a shortcut exists, assume they are wrong.